Physicist Quits Tenure-Track Job for AI Safety: 'They Installed Escalators on All the Mountains'
matthew_d_green · x · 2026-09-22
Particle physicist Oz Amram announced that, just 4 months after accepting a tenure-track position he had pursued since starting his PhD a decade ago, he is leaving physics immediately to work on AI safety.
His description of doing research now has resonated widely: "I signed up to be a mountain climber. But while I was passing the test they installed escalators on all the mountains in the world." Commenters like Neha Narula highlighted the line as capturing how researchers feel about meaning in the AI era.
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